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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

J. LYNCH.

SAFETY GUARD FOR RAILROAD FROG-S. Nu. 292,884. v y wgatented Feb. 5, 1884.

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Hi6 (176% megs:

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. LYNCH.

. SAFETY GUARD FOR RAILROAD FROGS. N0. 222,834. I Pajfntgd Feb. 5,1884

1 I A f UNITED STATES PATENT J 0 ll X LY KC H, O F X E \Y H A. Y ll X ill l ll 1 t A. N

SAFETY-'GUARD FOR RAlLROAD=FROGS SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 292,834, dated February 5, 1884.

Application filed June 27,1853. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Jon): Lvxcn, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Haven, in the county of Macomb and State of Michigan, have invented a new and Improved Safety-Guard for Railroad-Frogs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved means for filling the spaces between the frogs or switches and rails in yards or places where a great many frogs and switches are used in close contiguity; and the object of the same is to avoid accident and loss of life to railroademployes by preventing the almost daily oc- I currencc of men getting their feet fastened or hung in the frogs and losing their lives by trains passing over them before they can on tricate themselves from their perilous position. Uontrivances of various kinds for this purpose have been devised, and where such are made with yielding platforms they will not answer, I think, when put into practical use, as good a purpose as solid guard devices, on account of their liability of becoming clogged with ice, snow, or other obstacle, or of their springs getting disarranged so as not to allow the platforms to descend and rise freely, or oftheir rotting or becoming granulated, as in cases when they are made of india-rubbera material which has its character or condition very materially changed under the influences of very hot and very cold weather.

My invention consists in certain combinations of solid guard-blocks of peculiar construction with the main rails, check-rails, and frog or switch rails, as will be hereinafter described and specifically claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a plan view of the frog-section of a railroadtrack having my improved guards applied to it. Figs. 2 and 8 are detail perspective views of two angular or flanged guard-blocks used in forming my safety-guard. Fig. 4: is a ver tical longitudinal section in the line 00 m of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section in the line 7 7 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is avertical longitudinal section in the line of Fig. 1; and Fig. I is a plan view similar to Fig. 1, but illustrating more fully the construction of a railroad-track at the frog and switch section.

In the drawings, A A represent the rails of the main track; 13 B, the rails of the side track, and C t the cheek-rails, the check rails having a length about nine feet.

D D are solid rigid safety-guards, of either wood or metal/shaped to fit the inner sides of the rails A and O and C and 13, and arranged between the same, as shown; Each of these guards is formed of two blocks, (7, ofequal size, made of either wood or metal, the end of one block abutting against a like end of the other at a point midway of the length of a checkrail, 0, and each of the said blocks is provided with ahooking beveled flange, d, at its outer end, and with a channel, (2%, on its top, as shown plainly in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The flanges on the ends of the blocks (1 (l hook against the ends of the check-rails, and through their beveled surfaced portions spikes (75 are passed down into holdfasts or crossi'ies oi the road, for the purpose of confining them permanently. abutting against each other at (7 and against the check-rails. The flanges d prevent longitudinal movement of the guard-blocks from each other when a train is passing over the frog-section of the track, while their channels (1* afford room for the-flanges of the ear and engine wheels. The guards D1) are designed for filling the spaces between the check-rails C and the rails A C and B O to about the extent of the entire length of the check-rails, and to form a solid footing for pedestrians crossing the frog-section of the railroad-track. The manner of constructing the guards l) D of solid and rigid material, either wood or metal, and of securing them in position, constitutes the main novelty of this part of my invention.

E E are safety-guard blocks at those ends of l a main rail, A, and a branch rail, 13, which terminate at the frog F. These guard-blocks are formed of either metal or wood, with a flange, c, and a beveled spiking surface, through which spikes c are driven into a cross-tie of the railroad. The top surfaces of these blocks are grooved at and lie on a plane below the said rails A and 13. One of these guard-blocks is placed between the terminating end of a branch rail, 13, and the frogpoint 1, and another between the terminating end of a main rail. and said frog-point, as shown, the flanges c of said guard-blocks hearing, respectively, against the terminating ends of the said main and branch rails A and B. The guardblocks thus placed serve to fill the spaces between the frog and the terminating ends of said rails, and thereby form a solid rigid footing for pedestrians crossing over the track where they are placed.

G is a doubly-flared safety-guard block, also placed between the inner main and inner branch or side track rail. This guard is set in position before the said rails A and 13 are spiked down, and it abuts at 9 against the guard-blocks E E, as shown. This guardblock G is formed, either of metal or wood, with a flare at each end. In one of the flared ends a notch, g, is provided, so that it may be fitted to the point f of the frog E. On its sides it is bulged so as to fit the sides of the rails A and B, and on its top it is grooved, as at g, to afford room below the top of said rails for the flanges of the wheels of the cars and engine while a train is moving over the frogsection of the track. Through the other flared end, 0, of the guard G, which is beveled, a spike, e, is driven down into a sleeper for the purpose of holding it firmly in position, abutting, as at 1 against the blocks E E, while a train is passing over the frog-section of the track. The guard-blocks E E and G fill the dangerous spaces between the frog and the rails A and B, which unite with it; and by reason of the doubly-flared form of the block G, longitudinal movement thereof, either backward or forward, is prevented, while by the flanges 6, formed on the blocks E, and the spikes 0, these latter blocks are kept with an abutting contact at against theblock G, and cannot move longitudinally while a train is passing over the frog-section of the track. The guard-block G is made of such length as will make the space at the frog-section of the track safe to walk over, or so as to have said block about five to eight inches wide at its broadest end. The construction of the guardblocks of solid rigid material, and the mode of applying the guard-blocks E and G, as herein shown and described, constitutes the main novelty of this part of my invention.

H is a V-shapcd guardblock placed in the frog proper. For the reception of this guardblock the space between the frog-rails A and B is shaped to form a sort of socket or recess,

At the outer or k provided, and through this flange a spike, h

is driven into a cross-tic of the road, for the purpose of fastening said block in position. This guard-block H fills the space between the frog-rails, and makes'it safe for pedestrians crossing the frog-section of the track, and its length will be such as to have its widest or flared end of a width, say, from five to eight inches.

I do not claim india-rubber or other yielding platforms, or cushions placed between rails for the purpose of forming a safety-guard at the frog-section of a railroad-track, unless my special construction of the guards is adopted in connection with the use of such material; but

\V hat I do claim is- 1. The combination of the divided flanged guard D with a main rail, A, and check-rail G, substantially as and for the purpose de scribed.

2. The combination of the divided flanged guard D with a branch or side track rail B, and a check-rail, O, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the flanged guardblocks E and the donbly-flared guard-bloek G with the frog E, and the rails A and B, substantially as and for the purpose described.

4. The solid rigid V-shaped guard H, beveled at If, provided with a spike-hole at 71 and formed with a point, f", in combination with the frog E and rails A and B, substan .tially as and for the purpose described.

5. Thefrogsection of a railroad-track, pro vided with the rigid divided guards D D G E, and the rigid guard H, all constructed, combined, and arranged substantially as described.

.TOHS LYNCH.

Witnesses:

' G. F. M. \Vmorrr,

I. X. Coon. 

